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2Nansen, King of North, Made Obstacles Assist in His ProgressBY VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON,tiotei Arctic Explorer, Scientiit and Author.SEVERAL travelers, including myself, are used to being presentedto audiences (where no otherwell known traveler ia present)as the “greatest living explorer.’’But when no potentially Jealous explorer is present and when men of information and judgment in the matterare gathered together, the name is always the same—that of Fridtjof Nansen. that citizen of the world, born inNorway, who has just landed in NewYork for a tour through the UnitedStates.There are several explorers living whoare great in their own fields, if youconcede greatness at all to a craft ofthis nature. But Nansen, so far as weran judge, would have been a great orat least a distinguished and outstanding man had he followed almost anyother congenial occupation.And many occupations -are congenialto him, for he is a man of varied tastesand numerous talents. He did not winthe Nobel prize, for instance, throughany achievement in the line of exploration or through work where his previous distinctions helped him materially.He won it in the humanitarian task ofmarshaling the relief forces of theworld against Russian famine.Nansen started In life as a biologist.He had already won recoginition in thisfield and was curator of the BergenNatural History Museum when only21 years old. His interest in humanlife‘on the sea was natural, for he wasa descendant of those lords of thenorthern ocean, the Vikings, who haddominated Europe through their shipcraft a thousand years before.His interest in the animal life of thesea was equally natural, for the wealthof Norway today and her leading occupations are dependent to a great extent on fisheries. The plants of thesea would Interest him. too. for it is onthem that the snimals live and giveoccupation and wealth to the people.The temperatures and current andother physical conditions of the watermust interest him as well, for uponthese in the last analysis the plantsdepend. * * * *OERGEN has been a seaport of eonsequence from the beginning ofhistory. Everything conspired to interest'Nansen in the ocean when oncehe had entered the biological field andhad settled on Bergen as the place ofhis work.It was interest in the sea and knowledge of it that led Nansen to contributeeventually ft new idea to the thoughtof the world. To develop a really newidea is greatness, or the foundation ofgreatness.Men who can succeed in routinework are numerous. There are several,no doubt, who could have handled theRussian famine as well as Nansen,though he did handle It well enoughto deserve the Nobel Prize. But therewere few In Europe or anywhere, probably none, who had at once the information upon which Nansen basedhis new Idea and the originality tosynthesize that information and bring«ut an idea from it.Attempt to Ambush Influenza Is Futile Despite Medical SkillGerms Wkick Are Candidates lor Official Source of Disease Have Difficultyin Proving Claims, kut Epidemic Is Under Scientific Attackin Hope of Unlocking Its Secrets.BY WATSON DAVIB.CONFIDENT in scientific weapons for public health, protected by the sanitary cordon thatthe Government flings aroundAmerica's frontiers, this country self-satisfied considers that greatplagues are unpleasant chapters of ancient history or remote happenings inessentially uncivilised portions of thepresent-day world.It is true that many of the epidemicfils of past years have been conqueredby medical science. Yellow fever, whichonce took its thousands in large American cities of pre-Pasteur days, mustnow be studied in remote portions ofAfrica and South America. Plague andchclrra but seldom enter our ports andwn?n they do they meet with a swiftextinction. Smallpox, which oncemarked the face of nearly every one,is now, thanks to vaccination, more ofa crime than a misfortune. Cancer,tuberculosis and a few other diseaseswe still have with us, but most of thehorrors of the past, such as typhoid,conquered by pure water, or diphtheria,made a minor cause of death by toxinantitoxin, are relegated to relativelyobscure proportions.It is disconcerting and troubling to acountry about to congratulate itself onone of the best health years in historyto have its good record soiled by achameleon disease marching across thecountry, masking as a “bad cold” attimes and in other cases calling inpneumonia to finish Its dastardly attack.The great influenza pandemic of 1918,which seemed to come as nature’s contribution to the debacle of the WorldWar, was one of the great plagues ofhistory. To India the 1918 influenzaepidemic was by far the most seriousepidemic in its history—and India isJustly considered the plague spot of theworld, not only now but In the past.The 1918-19 epidemic, in Americaalone, brought death to over half amillion persons who would not havedied If the normal death rate of thepreceding healthful years had not beenshot skyward by this visitation of disease. During those dark days one outof -every three persons was attacked.unrecorded damage the plaguedid In undermining otherwise stalwartconstitutions or weakening defenseagainst future ills, we shall never know.** * *YEARLY last October physicians in thedistrict around San Francisco be-Kn to receive calls from patients whod what they described as a bad cold,accompanied by a slight fever andsometimes a hacking cough. They werereally sick, weak and prostrated, al- jthough it was sometimes difficult to iconvince them that they ahould treat!their illness seriously and stay in bed. jThe malady spread explosively, rais- ilng the temperatures of many and fill-!inf the air with the sound and dangerous spray of constant coughs. Thebrewing epidemic was soon lifted fromthe ordinary category of a mere coldand it was labeled “influenza.” althoughIt was milder and not so liable to bringon such deadly after effects as characterized the war-time disease.As the case reports filtered upwardfrom physician to local health officer,to Btate health departments and finallyto the general headquarters of America's health organization, the UnitedStatea Public Health Service In Washington. there was concern among thosewho. trained to see the significance ofminor occurrences in the past, havewatched small flashes of disease faninto conflagrations that covered theworld.From South Carolina, too, there camereports of a similar disease.As the cases mounted in the earlyweeks of November, health forces mobilized and made ready for warfare.A decade had passed since the lastepidemic. Immunity produced in theblood of the survivors of the last greatoutbreak undoubtedly had been lost bythis time—that is. if there is immunityto Influenza. Despite the thousands ofexperiments, hours upon hours of tedious and faithful work, the volunteeringof human subjects for tests that mightmean death, experts sadly shook theirheads and admitted frankly:“We knew no more about influenzathan we did in 1918.”They were modest. Actually they hadCareer of Achievement in Many Fields Lies Behind Explorer Now Visiting America and Planning, at Age of 67, NewConquests in Polar Regions—New Domicile for Santa Claus —Flappers as Explorers.Somehow the public is usually unable to perceive greatness in an explorer or imagine greatness in himunless he has really or supposedly performed some deed of physical prowess.Nansen began his career with thatsort of prowess, which may have beenaccident or diplomacy. No one hadcrossed Greenland. Ordinary humanreasoning goes no farther than to assume that what has not yet been doneis either impossible, or at the least,very difficult.About Greenland, indeed, many hadsaid specifically that it could not becrossed. Peary had climbed the western slopes; and it is easy to see nowfrom analysis of his testimony that heforeshadowed the crossing. Moreover,he understood that it could be done andwanted to do it/ No one doubts todaythat he could have done it. There iseven some reason to believe that Pearywould have done it more easily thanNansen, for certainly he showed in hislater career a genius for organizationand for the development of new andgood methods of snow and ice travelwhich Nansen hardly approached. Indeed. the technique or cold-weatherliving and the method of sledge travelwere always Nansen's weakest points.The fact was, however, that Nansenstartled the world by crossing Greenland. Thereby incidentally, certainlywithout premeditating It, probablywithout realizing it. he broke, or wouldhave broken had it been breakable, theheart of the other great explorer, theone serious competitor of his activelife, the American Peary. Peary hadbuilt so many hopes around crossingGreenland that he actually felt hislife in ruins about him when he readin the papers one morning that. Nansenhad done this “impossible" thing.** * *'"THERE are perhaps, on the whole, fewroyal roads to greatness; but theyare numerous in the field of exploration.For where else do you discover so manyachievements which the public believesto be impossible or superhuman, butwhich those on the Inside know to beeasy—so easy, Indeed, that the heroes ofthose achievements can hardly keep astraight face when they meet? Theyare like the Roman soothsayers of oldwho kept long countenances before thepublic, but who, as Cicero tells us, usedto wink at each other in passing.On this fortunate peculiarity of exploration, the ease of its “difficult”achievements, is based, too, that aystemof ethics which makes it the unforgivable sin for an explorer to take the public into his confidence about how easysome of the heralded feats really were.It is safe by now, however, to tell thetruth about the crossing of Greenland:for both of the contenders. Peary andunhappy experiences and memoric - engraved in their recollections and printed in the pages of their technical reports. For prevention and treatmentthere was little new practical knowledgeto be offered to the public. Unscrupulous or misguided advertisers were soonto offer “cures” for the “flu.” But publichealth and medical authorities knewthat in the face of an influenza epidemic they could do little more thangive the good common sense counsel of:Keep away from sick people, coveryour coughs and sneezes, go to bedwhen you feel sick, call a doctor, followhis advice and be an invalid until afteryou are sure you are well.Unarmed, without serums or antitoxins that often prove useful in otherdiseases, the officials could foresee whatwas about to happen. They knewwhere the 1918 influenza epidemic be§in. It was at Commonwealth Pier inos ton and the month was August.They knew how the disease, broughtfrom Europe, spread from city to city,military camp to military camp, by persons who were often taken sick duringtheir journeys from one place to another. Along the lines of human travelthe disease spread with grim relentlessness despite the frantic preventivemeasures, the masked physicians andnurses, the closed schools, the darktheaters and other emergency precautions. Individuals must meet individuals, and so long as there is humancontact this disease seems to spread.** * *T AST Fall the influenza started onthe West Coast Instead of the East.Whence it came no one knows. Butwhither it was going the public healthstatisticians did know, although theywere careful not to alarm the public byterrifying predictions. However, theywere able to predict the probable courseof the epidemic for their own guidanceand the information of officials.Along the railroads that carry humanfreight back and forth, they said, theepidemic would make its way eastward,conquering State after State. And soit did. speedily, for influensa lasts onlyfive to ten weeks in any one place. Thedisease made its transcontinental journey. From the peak of the epidemicon the Pacific Coast to what appears tobe its greatest Intensity in the East wasonly a matter of six or eight weeks.The present epidemic has not yetsubsided. It is too early to know definitely what its toll In life has been. Thestatisticians who record our country’shealth must use indirect methods to determine the real effects of influenza.Many physicians apparently do not seethe necessity of reporting influenzacases, the disease in some of its formsj seems so mild and inconsequential,j And even In the most thoroughly up-1 to-date report systems only a fraction of; the cases And their way into the tallyi marks of the health record. It is cus; tomary for public health statisticians toi consider that only one out of five casesof any disease is really reported, butwith Influenza the number of cases reported is an even smaller fraction of thetotal.A house-to-house canvass of typicalareas is undertaken in such cases to obtain a better picture of what actuallyhappened during the distressful weekswhen the disease raged. The housewife,upon whom the burden of caring forthe sick usually falls, is a more comptent recorder of the statistics of herhousehold than even the family physician or the health department. Insuch a manner it was determined thatone out of every three persons in thecountry had Influenza during the epidemic at the end of the World War.More to be relied upon are the deathstatistics, which from their very naturegive a nearly correct numerical picture,even though the causes may not be soaccurately recorded upon the death certificates. Influenza is charged officiallyand directly in death certificates withonly a part of the toll which It reallycauses. Many influenza cases turn intopneumonia in their Anal fatal stagesand for that reason in evaluating thedamage from an influenza epidemic,statisticians keep their eyes on thedeaths caused by related (Ulßpes aswell. „.By long experience and with manycolumns of statistics, these recorders of, life and death have computed the normal toll that various diseases take ofI the population each year. It is.possibleTHE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON. D. C., FEBRUARY 3. 1929-PART 7.Vj'FRIDTJOF NANSEN.Nansen, have since risen to unassailableheights, recognized as leaders in theircraft as explorers as well as by the public. Their reputations now rest safelyon the doing of really great and fundamentally important as well as difficultthings.It is the mood of children to kick atobstructions. The small and petulanttrv to conquer Nature and to bend herforces to their will. They are driven toto measure the effect of an epidemic bydetermining the deaths during the epidemic period that are in excess of thenormal expected death rate. By sucha manner it is possible to say that the1918 influenza epidemic cost the country half a million lives.The less serious influenza epidemic of1920 snappd out prematurely the livesof 100,000. A good guess of the excessdamage done by the epidemic now subsiding is at least 150,000 lives.This damage is done by an unseen foetraveling from victim to victim in amanner which is not precisely known.The best of experts differ even onwhether there is an influenza disease asclear-cut as, for instance, smallpox.Perhaps, it is suggested, influenza isreally a general condition in the population that allows colds and pneumoniato do their damage. But most of thestudents of disease see Influenza as adefinite disease entity which comesupon its victim suddenly, causes afever, prostrates him and affects notonly his respiratory organs but his wholesystem. When Infection temporarilygets the upper hand of the human bodythe white cells of the blood usually Increase in number. They are the soldiers of the blood and they enter intodecisive combat with the invader. Butin influenza these defensive forces ofwhite blood cells are not mobilized andthere may actually be too few of thewhite soldiers to prevent other Infections getting a foothold in the body.** * *TN the early days of this epidemic of1 influenza there appeared in thenewspapers a report that there hadThis Age of Specialized Service.BY STEPHEN LEACOCK.IN the old days, of say 20 years ago,when a man got sick he went to adoctor. The doctor looked at him,examined him, told him what waswrong with him, and gave him somemedicine and told him to go to bed.The patient went to bed, took themedicine, and either got better ordidn’t.All of this was very primitive, and itis very gratifying to feel that we havegot quite beyond it.Now, of course, a consulting doctorfirst makes a diagnosis. The patient isthen handed on to a “heart man” fora heart test, and to a nerve man fora nerve test. Then if he has to beoperated on, he is put too sleep by ananesthetist, and operated on by an operating surgeon and waked up by aresurrectionist.All that is excellent —couldn’t be better.But Just suppose that the other professions began to imitate it! And justsuppose that the half professions thatlive In the reflection of the bigger onesstart in on the same line!We shall then witness little episodesin the routine of our lives such as thatwhich follows:“Mr. Follicle will see you now,” saidthe young lady attendant.The patient entered the inner sanctum of Dr. Follicle, generally recognized as one of the greatest capillaryexperts in the profession. He carriedafter his name the degrees of Cap. D.from Harvard. B. Hair Oil from Paris,and was an Honorary Shampoo of halfa dozen societies.The expert ran his eye quickly overthe face of the Incoming patient. Histrained gaze at once recognized a certain roughness in the skin, as if of apartial growth of hair just comingthrough the surface, which told thewhole tale. He asked, however, a fewquestions as to personal history, parentage, profession, habits, whethersedentarv or active, and so on, andthen with a magnifying glass made asearching examination of the patient’sface.He shook his head.“I think,” he said, “there is no doubtabout your trouble. You need a shave.”The patient’s face fell a little at theabrupt, firm announcement. He knewwell that it was the expert’s duty to1 state It to him flatly and fairly. Hehimself in his inner heart had knownmagic and make-believe and to thwarted struggles against the impossible. Onthe part of such children of a largergrowth there had been, before Nansen'stime, many high expressions of loftybut Ineffectual purpose about “conquering the Arctic.” There had been. too.advances by a few men of genius—byEric the Red. by Parry. Rae. McClintock,and perhaps as many others as youcan count on the fingers of two hands.been stolen from a London physicianculture tubes of Influenza germs sufficient In quantity to endanger all ofLondon. The story must have causedamused chuckles among the researchworkers. For, while many germs havebeen nominated to the honor of causinginfluenza, none has been able to holdfast to the claim. For nearly 20 yearsthe Pfeiffer bacillus was the seeminglysuccessful claimant. After the Influenzaepidemic of 1889-1890 a German bacteriologist located this bacillus in manycases and the organism named In hishonor was considered to ba the cause.During the 1918 epidemic, despite manycompetent searchings for it, thePfeiffer bacillus was not found in manytypical cases of influenza and as a result it has lost its prestige as the causeof the disease.Other bacteria, one of which, knownas bacterium pneumosintes, was foundto produce influenza-like symptoms inthe rabbit, have been put forward as thecause of influenza and then have beenrepudiated when subjected to closerscrutiny. It seems probable that theliving cause of influenza is so small thatit easily passes the finest Alters andwill forever defy the attempts of thehuman eye to see it.. It must be abrother in size to the yet unknowncause of smallpox.Despite its undetermined cause,smallpox was one of the first diseasesto come under what may be called absolute control. Jenner applied vaccination before Pasteur laid the foundations of bacteriology. So the researchworkers will not be disheartened if theynever And the causative organism ofinfluenza.“I THINK,” HE SAID, ‘‘THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT YOURTROUBLE. YOU NEED A SHAVE.”it before he had come in. But he hadhoped against hope; perhaps he didn’tneed it after all, perhaps he couldwait, later on, perhaps, he would accept It. Then he had argued to himself, refusing, as we all refuse, to facethe cruel and inevitable fact.“Could It be postponed for a day orso more?” he asked. ”1 have a goodmany things to do at the office.”"My dear sir,” said the expert firmly. "I have told you emphatically thatvou need a shave. You may postponeIt if you wish, but if you do I refuseto be responsible."The patient sighed.Still none, even of these great ones,had done more than to stop fightingnatural obstacles, to adapt themselvesto conditions as they found them and togo ahead with their work on that basis.Nansen was the first to formulate andcarry out a plan by which the so-calledhostility of the Arctic could be actuallymade to co-operate in a plan for itsown subjugation.Even Parry had been outright deKSlSKjgß^ml^BßMßKßKf^MMßl^B^BßM^W^^^Ml^^ByEil^^Kffiagv^*,-. - jamZmiW f { f In Hafep» i.-.’. f-ff& t a > '‘ $ $jiff mgL}\ fwtek' ’wupfawla ~» \ * BaslL. »«&& wyA*Y\> mWmt Jifrr JEHK3]li%SyLjJ| HIW Jpy. jt W 1Hags ImfiM «| ■HBHHK^jr^^^RfflßßrW®»jk PJKnfeaSKg^~Bp* j » r*»*'' WHRjwßstSk® -•. ■£&&-[S&iflAffSKfENr ■ WWPwltNSbw™**™^™™*^ygit < *Mr vkjKr?s 1TyiroHßfgrjr uJHj^WMMB^JIEiWLjEnfIi M h 1 jTHE PUBLIC IS CONFIDENT THAT SCIENCE EVENTUALLY WILL CONQUER INFLUENZA.More discouraging have been the attempts to transmit influenza from person to person under experimental conditions. The most casual layman, whenshown a record of spreading influenza,“All right,“he said, “If I must, I must.After all, the sooner It’s done, the soonerit's over. Qo right ahead and shaveme.”The great expert smiled. "My dearsir,” he said, “I don’t shave you myself. I am only a consulting halrologlst. I make my diagnosis, and I passyou on to expert hands.”He pushed a bell.“Miss Smith," he said to the entering secretary, “please fill out a card forthis gentleman for the shaving ropm.If Dr. Scrape is operating, get him tomake the removing of the facial hair,jpr. Clicker will then run the clippersseated by the circumstance that thePolar Sea Is not covered with one vastexpanse of ice which you can treat as ifit were solid land, but with multitudesof cakes of Ice which offer a constantalternation between solid and liquid, andwhich are, moreover, in constant drift —constant only in that they are moving,but not in the direction of their motion.Nansen was the first to make planneduse of thla "difficulty.’'There are predecessors to every Inventor, there are steps In every discovery, even in such great ones asNansen's. The Tegetthof. under theAustrians, had drifted with the ice in1872-74, showing that it could be donefor a time at least with comparativesafety and comfort. The Jeannette,financed by Bennett of the New YorkHerald, had drifted northwestwardthrough what was really water, althoughIt had been supposed to be land, andher commander, the American navallieutenant DeLong. had even formulated some plans that could be basedon that kind of drift.Perhaps had DeLong lived he mighthave been the originator of the roundedout Nansen plan of building a ship thatwas peculiarly adapted to resisting icepressures, stocking her with wholesomefood, planning to live aboard or nearher an active open-air life through yearafter year, counting on fresh meat secured by hunting to maintain the healthof the crew, and thus, as a well mannedscientific laboratory, drifting across theArctic Basin by setting the vessel fastin the Ice on the side from which thedrift appeared to come arid expectingher, when enough years had passed, toemerge at the opposite side.** * *XTANSEN studied all the facta andconcluded that the drift across theArctic Basin was from the side ofAlaska, Bering Strait and Eastern Siberia toward the side of the Atlantic,Norway and Iceland.He built the Fram and put her in theice in 1893. She emerged in 1898 withcomplete vindication of a theory and ofa method that were not only demonstrably new from the historical point ofview, but were so new from the scientific or logical point of view that mostof the highest authorities in the worldhad called them everything from Impractical through visionary and suicidalto insane.Nansen is a man of rounded characterand balanced genius. His drift, accordingly, was no mere triumph of onetheory, but carried with it the gathering or the largest body of accurate andimportant knowledge that has ever beenbrought together by a single Arctic expedition.One sample from many will show hownovel the contusions were in some cases.would see immediately that it is highlyinfectious. But just after the 1918 epidemic brave volunteers in Boston andSan Francisco subjected themselves toexperiments during which influenzaover his neck. Perhaps he had bettergo right to the aoaping room fromhere; have him sent down fully soapedto Dr. Scrape.”The young lady stepped close to theexpert and said something in a lowertone, which the patient waa not intended to hear.“That's unfortunate.” murmured thespecialist, "it seems that we have nosoaplst available for at least an houror so. Both our experts are busy—anemergency case that came in this morning, involving the complete removingof a full beard. Still, perhaps Dr.3crape can arrange something for you.And now,” he continued, looking oversome notes in front of him, “for thework around the ears, have you anypreference for any one in particular?I mean any professional man of yourown acquaintance whom you would liketo call in?”“Why, no,” said the patient, “can’tDr. What’s-hls-name do that, too?”“He could,” said the consultant, "butonly at a certain risk, which I hesitateto advise. Snipping the hair about andaround the ears is recognized as a verydelicate line of work, which is betterconfided to a specialist. In the olddays in this line of work there wereoften some very distressing blundersand accidents due purely to lack oftechnique—severance of part of the ear,for example.”“All right,” said the patient, “I’llhave a specialist.”"Very good,” said the hairologist,"now as to a shampoo—l think we hadbetter wait till after the main work isover and then we will take specialadvioe according to your condition. Iiam inclined to think that your constitution would stand an immediate shampoo. But I shouldn’t care to advise itwithout a heart teat. Very often a premature shatnpoo in cold weather willset up a nasal trouble of a very distressing character. We had better waitand see how we come along.”“All right,” said the patient.“And now,” added the expert, moregenially, "at the end of all of it, shallwe say—a shine?”“Oh, yes, certainly*“A shine, very good, and a brushup? To Include the hat? Yes, excellent. Miss Smith, will you conduct thisgentleman to the soaping room?” IThe patient hummed and hawed aBefore that time even scientists hadcommonly believed that the Arctic wasparticularly stormy. Nansen accumulated a mass of data which enabled himto show that in no area of equal size inthe world are storms so few and mildon the average.How novel this view was when he setit forth in 1897 vou can convince yourself if vou look over the various popular books about the Arctic. For it isdoubtful that you will find more thanone or two of them, even 30 yearslater, that do not express or imply theold belief in the prevalence of violentstorms, ignoring not only Nansen’s conclusion. itself based upon sufficient evidence. but all the mass of corroborativetestimony that has been published sincethen, including, for Instance, the reportsof mv own expeditions which have covered an aggregate of more than 11 yearswithin the Arctic Circle.The time Is just coming when theworld Is to make practical use of thisNansen finding. The rarity and average mildness of storms In the Arctic isone of the corner stones in the programfor use of the Arctic as an aerial highwav to fly by the shortest routes between such populous centers of thenorth temperate zone as He on opposite sides of the Arctic from each other,as. for Instance, Chicago and Stockholm. Seattle and Berlin. New York andPekin. London and Toklo.Nansen does not retire nor rest onhis laurels. After becoming foremostamong explorers, he took part in winning for Norway her Independencefrom Sweden, and later representedNorway as minister to London. He carried on his oceanographic work whilehe was a politician and diplomat. Hecarried It on, too, while, as a statesman representing the League of Nations. he administered the famine relief in Russia.He is carrying on oceanography stilland at 67 Is about to re-enter polarexploration, though on a basis entirelydifferent from his pioneer work of 35years ago. He is doing now nothingthat is revolutionary, but Instead, everything that the authorities agree isfeasible and comparatively easy, butrich In promise of results. There is abroad scientific foundation for his planto engage the German airship OrafZeppelin and to make with it severalcrossings of the Arctic during the latter part of next Winter.** ♦ #WHATEVER the scientific results of’’ this journey may really prove tobe, no one now expects them to berevolutionary, but merely the continuation of logical development. But Ifnot revolutionary in science, theseflights will be revolutionary in the popularization of that real knowledge ofthe Arctic which Nansen has done moresufferers coughed in their faces, doctors swabbed their throats with thesupposedly dangerous discharges frominfluenza patients and supposedly infective material was Injected into theirbodies. But none of i'vrri contractedthe disease.In another exper.nent condu *d inpart by Dr. Joseph Ooldberger, the conqueror of pellagara. whose untimelydeath is being mourned by his colleagues at the Hyglenio Laboratory atWashington, it was discovered that influenza is infective only in the earlierstages of the disease—possibly before; the patient really knows that he is going to be sick. The advice to the public is to avoid those recently sick andthose Just being taken sick. It may bethat those convalescent, no matter howmuch they sneeze and cough, are relatively harmless.Taking good care of one's health inepidemic times is probably the best insurance against the disease. Robinson Crusoe on a dessert island mightbe spared from a world pandemic ofinfluenza—provided he were not visitedby his man Friday. Isolated communities. cut off from the outside worldwith the exception of infrequent visitors, were attacked by the 1918 influenza epidemic nearly as quickly asthe crowded areas of the larger cities.Only one visitor, not necessarily sick,H enough in some Instances to bringthe disease into a remote village.** * *'THE way In which the disease spreads jA is shown by an incident in theearly part of the present epidemic.The University of Washington foot ballteam traveled from Seattle to Berkeleyfor games with the University of California. Accompanying the team weresome loyal Washington rooters. Thetime of the contest coincided with theearly outbreak of Influenza in Callfornia and the rooters, mingling withlittle. "What about the fee?” he jasked.The consultant waved the questionaside with dignity. “Pray do not trou-!ble about that.” he said, "all that willbe attended to in its place.”And when the patient had passedthrough all the successive stages of thehigh-class expert work Indicated, fromthe first soap to the last touch of powder, he came at the end. with a sighof relief, to the special shoe-shining iseat and the familiar colored boy onhis knees waiting to begin. Here, atlast, he thought, la something thathasn’t changed."Which foot?” asked the boy,"How’s that?” said the man. "Oh,it doesn’t matter—here, take the right.” 1"You’ll have to go to the other chair,”said the boy, rising up from his knees.“I’m left-handed. I only do the lefti foot.” *tCopjrrizM. 1923.>than any one else to develop, but whichhe has been powerless, as all other*have been, to get the public to accept.Perhaps because the Arctic is thehome of Santa Claus, we seem nationally and Internationally unwilling thatany realities shall prevail in ourthoughts of the Far North. Personallyfond of Santa Claus, I would be tb.elast to desire that any one shouldhandicap that benevolent saint materially. It seems to me that I havafound away around the apparent mlnnma. I have proposed it before, butwant to propose it afresh in connectionwith the visit of the greatest of explorers to the western side of the Atlantic.Why not transfer the residence ofSanta Claus to the moon, and most ofour folklore interest of the Arctic to themoon along with him? Then we wouldbe free to promote the Arctic by trulymodern methods and to begin using itin line with current aeronautical development as a thoroughfare between OldWorld and New World commercial centers. Santa, being the crystallization ofan idealistic dream, could as easily visitour kiddles from the moon as from Lapland or Alaska.The Importance of the coming Nansen flights is essentially one of publicity,or as we now euphemistically say, public relations. He should, therefore, employ the best of public relations counsel.There must be a liberal appropriationfor an “educational” campaign and thepublicists must study every angle,especially, I suggest, the personnel ofthe expedition. Girl Scouts or debutantes should accompany the flight, ifthe real interest of the public is to beenlisted in the venture.At the very least we must know' thatseveral of the members have grayhalred mothers who are fond of them.Cats should be taken, dogs and pigeons.Some of the crew should be handsome,and others pleasantly homely withwarts on their noses. There might bea chaplain so broadminded that wecould be informed that he secretlyenjoyed the terrific oaths of some seadog who might be taken along with theflyers to do the swearing. For on expeditions the public would really notice,Queen Marie of Rumania should beInduced to go along.If some such program is followed theNansen flight of 1930 will be likely tosucceed in calling the attention of thepublic to some of the outstanding conclusions of his drift voyage of 1893-’96.The facts he gathered then and theprinciples he established would beginafter thirty years to fill the press dispatches if those methods were followed,and might even succeed in getting afooting as low down as our commonschool text books. Nansen’s Ideas mightbegin to move the world.But whether or not the public decidesto find out and understand what Nansen has done, let’s treat him well inany case, now that he is among us.For the Nobel prize and the gold medalsof scores of learned societies certifythat he is a great man. And we areused to worshiping great men, even ifwe do not undestand them —men likeEinstein, for instance. It does us lot*of good: the thrill has a tonic effect.the Berkeley crowd, carried the disease back to Seattle. An epidemologlstwas able to trace the spread of the disease at the University of Washingtonfrom fraternity house to fraternityhouse. The foot ball team, minglingwith the other players, all of whomwere in good physical condition andwell, did not contribute to the spreadon their home campus.The conquest of influenza lies in thefuture. In the same bundle of unsolveddisease mysteries are the colds thatcause great economic loss and muchpersonal discomfort. Colds may befound to be the small and less deadlycousins of influenza.Dozens of scientists are now seizingthe present influenza epidemic as anopportunity for further research. Bocompletely does Influenza disappear inthe intervals between epidemics that itis difficult to carry on research whenthe disease is not widely prevalent. Andsince the epidemic is speedily over, theinvestigators must work fast to makethe most of the opportunity. This timeone of them may be successful. All whoare trained In the observation of disease have a chance. The family physician. seeing case after case of influenza,may detect the essential key to influenza’s secret which others have overlooked. The story of discovery of insulin bv a young doctor who took histheory into a large university laboratoryand conquered the previously hopelessdis-ase of diabetes is fresh in our memory.\ t ' *Wine Carts Passing.pHE picturesque old wine carta ofRome are giving way to the onward march of progress, and soon theplodding horses are expected to retirealtogether in favor of the fast-movingmotor truck. Speed and traffic regulations have much to do with the passing1 of the wagons piled high with their[ casks of beverages.It has been the custom from time immemorial for the drivers of the winecarts, who start for Rome at midnight,to sleep on their seats, while the faithful, well trained old horses And theirway into the city and to the wine shoofor which they are headed.New traffic rules, however, call for, vehicles to keep to the right instead ofthe left, as formerly, and accidents have ibeen numerous, as the horses, amblingalong around turns on their left-handside of the road, have met autos keeping to the right.Severe penalties have added to the 1 *! problems of 'the drivers following theseaccidents and gradually the older men| are following in the footsteps of theyounger, and are turning to the use of• the auto truck for transporting theirproducts.